Author: michaelfritzius

Owie 🙁 I’ve been thinking a lot about pain lately. The other day our four year old came in and had a sore finger. “Daddy!” she yelled as she burst into the office. “Karisa (the two year old) slammed my finger in the door it’s really owie!” I inspected it while she danced around. It… Read more

Awhile back I had the chance to get an amazing deal on Lego bricks. Having 4 daughters, my wife and I notice when there’s a chance to give our girls something educational to play with. I ended up getting 40 pounds of Lego bricks from a lady whose kids were old enough that they weren’t… Read more

It occurred to me that there’s a type of testing which looks like exploratory testing, but there’s a different mental approach to it. Exploratory testing seems to be more like: I suspect there are some bugs in the system, so I’ll strategically try some things that have worked before, to see what I find. And that… Read more

The longer I do it, the more I realize that testing software is a lot like fishing. Now I’m no expert on fishing, but I do know some things about fish: different species of fish like certain kinds of bait some fish live only in certain areas fish have a lifespan and will only be available at… Read more

I read this article recently, on making sure that your automation isn’t stale. Tests, like food, work best when they’re fresh. When trying to figure out how to get an automation suite under control–getting rid of staleness–I like to visualize it as a hedge. We generally throw out stale food, but a hedge can be trimmed… Read more

Even with requirements, it can be overwhelming to decide how to test an application. Whether you’re new or experienced, you may be faced with something to test and just think… where do I start? A trick that works is to adopt a persona, and stick with it for a time, in order to focus and… Read more

The Book Sun Tzu’s The Art of War was written in the 5th century BC. It’s since been translated into many languages, and is used not just for warfare tactics, but also corporate interactions, sports, business relationships, and many other disciplines that require strategy and tact. Once in awhile I run across a quote that seems… Read more

As I spend more time in the QA world, I’m noticing that quality is a thread that weaves throughout a company. It’s more than just providing good software and a great user experience. It’s also about providing a great employee experience too. “Quality is Everyone’s Business” is a phrase I hear used often. It’s usually directed… Read more

Every time I meet a new potential client, I ask this question: “What types of bugs aren’t you catching?” It’s never meant to be snarky. The point of the question is to make sure the client knows there’s a difference between the “what” of automated testing, and the “how”. The “what” is the thing being… Read more